State Representative Janel Brandtjen calls for funding cuts to Milwaukee until policies change

Last week homeowners in Washington County were held hostage in their homes by the actions of 5 young criminals from Milwaukee. All night long the Milwaukee Police, SWAT teams and law enforcement from Washington County combed the darkness for 5 youths with guns. Families were forced to unlock their gun cabinets and instruct their loved ones to shoot to kill.

The violence and the crime that has plagued Milwaukee for decades has now begun to spill over into Milwaukee’s suburbs. I lay the responsibility for this growing and out of control problem at the door of the Mayor’s office. Mayor Barrett may not care about the safety of his family but I certainly do care about mine.

Mayor Barrett, the people of southeast Wisconsin will not sit by and watch your administration destroy the entire region with failed liberal policies and a 10 second “Tommy Tough Talk” sound bite. If you do not fill the hundreds of vacant police officer positions, apprehend and arrest car thieves, demand prison for repeat criminals and start standing up to the judges who let repeat offenders off easy you will be in my opinion “assisting and enabling” the very criminals who are responsible for the record number of shootings, car jacking’s and murders.

I will be openly advocating for funding cuts to Milwaukee unless steps are taken to dramatically cut crime in Milwaukee. I will no longer sit by while you destroy Milwaukee and its flourishing suburbs. I cannot justify financing your failed policies in Milwaukee until you take public safety seriously.

I like the way you think, Tim. Dimwits from the 262 like Brandtjen think they can live in a Bubble where the consequences of their anti-Milwaukee mentality doesn’t affect them, and they can use the city’s amenities whenever they want, without paying for them.

Let’s relocate some of these troubled, economically disadvantaged youth to a more peaceful place wuth better opportunity. Like Menomonee Falls. Problem solved, right Janel?

What a worthless, toxic piece of trash…..Waste Management wouldn’t even remove her….
The anit-Milwaukee platform needs to stop especially in SE WI. Wake up idots! MKE is an economic engine and this person wants to reduce funding? And Washington County residents elected her to make decisions on their behalf?

Obviously this is a frustrated representative who is hearing from frustrated constituents. She also, judging by her demands, doesn’t realize that arrests and apprehensions are up quite a bit. That is especially true for juveniles. Really, she is advocating for the same things Chief Flynn did at the Public Safety committee meeting yesterday. Trouble is, isn’t prosecuting criminals a county thing?

Either way, I don’t think she believes cutting funding will cut crime… she’s trying to use her influence (state money) to get the city to make changes. It’s misguided and I hate when big government interfere’s in the details of smaller government affairs (be it fed, state, etc). I don’t say all that to give her a pass but to bring up their point of view that they believe Milwaukee (city or apparently county if they are talking county courts) isn’t doing enough to stem the problems.

That’s one way to make a name for yourself. You now move to the front of the line of people who really need to meet an ironic end by getting run over by our new streetcar crossing the street. Of course, you’re probably too scared to come into our “city by a lake” so feel free to drop dead by any other method.

Tim, I’m not apologizing for her, I think it’s an awful tactic to threaten budget cuts to force things to happen. But it helps to understand another persons perspective when you disagree with them rather than just name call and say how stupid what they do is.

That being said, here is what she thinks Milwaukee should do: fill the hundreds of vacant police officer positions, apprehend and arrest car thieves, demand prison for repeat criminals and start standing up to the judges who let repeat offenders off easy you will be in my opinion “assisting and enabling” the very criminals who are responsible for the record number of shootings, car jacking’s and murders.

Casey, that’s a good question! Like I said earlier, I think Flynn has been doing that lately… but I’m not sure what good it’s doing yet.

Regarding more police, I’m willing to add a bit to my property tax bill. I’ve had several cases of needing the police where it took them hours to arrive if ever. Although I’m sure there are far more creative options as well.

More cops and prisons only treats the symptoms. The disease needs to be addressed too: better education, better economy, more jobs, etc, so people don’t feel the need to steal or deal drugs to get by in life.

The irony, of course, Homer, is that these same people’s parents and grandparents were probably jumping up and down with glee when their employers left the city and they were able to move to the nice, quaint suburbs without any of those pesky minorities. The apples never fall far from the trees.

I get Flynn has been heeing and hawing but what can we do as a populace do? March? Would probably be for first in our history: a march to lock up kids? I don’t see people getting behind that even though most probably support the idea.

Not that that is the only thing we can do but that’s all that is coming to my simple mind.

AG you always say that people being needlessly or antagonistically divisive drives you nuts. You lament those who play up the urban versus suburban divide. What she is doing represents that at its very worst. Her comments are inflammatory and deplorable. It is disappointing (not to mention hypocritical of you) to see you make excuses for her. You would not be nearly as understanding of someone with a D after their name.

Tim, I don’t think it needs to be increased by 25%. You can use queue theory to find that a small incremental addition to capacity has exponential effects on output/performance.

Homer Jay, I completely agree. The only final answer is a holistic approach that encompasses all aspects of society. Harsher punishments aren’t the answer to solve the problem, but not punishing crime CAN have the opposite effect of allowing/encouraging an increase in crime.

Casey, you once again have me stumped. I wish I knew how we could get them to actually enforce laws. There does seem to be a race element to prosecutions… we need to make sure laws are applied evenly, but that might not mean numbers of criminals per race. If a white/brown/black person in Milwaukee commits a crime, they should be held accountable no matter what. If we worry too much about incarceration rates based on race though and that causes the authorities to curtail punishments in the wrong way, we could have issues.

Vincent, despite what the reactions to my post may lead some to believe, I do not agree with rep Bradtjen’s PR and agree this is exactly the type of divisional attitude that I detest. The reason for my comment was because rarely do people on UM take the time to try and understand the other sides point of view (aka, the right). I don’t seem to have to try to point out the lefts point of view very often since most people here tend to hold that view.

AG, what’s the increase you’re looking for? I don’t believe queue theory is relevant here but you’re welcome to show examples that refute. I see the police department budget as necessarily manpower driven, you pay more cops to lock up more bad guys and you’re driving your cost centers wild.

Anyway, prove you’re serious and not just excusing your rhetoric because the supposed “liberals” on this site aren’t worldly enough. I still doubt you know a meaning of that word beyond a simple pejorative, otherwise you’d know many here skew middle of the road.

Tim, if you don’t know what queue theory is you don’t need to try to refute it. Wait times is literally exactly what queue theory is all about. When you’re waiting in line for cops to respond to a call, you are in a queue. Not that I’m here to give you a capacity planning lesson, but in queue theory, if demand is only a few percentages higher than capacity you will still have an exponential growth in wait times.

Do you think we have enough cops to service our city properly?

Since you think I’m only talking rhetoric, the only thing being proven here is your unwillingness to understand others perspectives.

Considering Milwaukee relies on shared revenue to fund cops, cutting funding would in fact require it to have less cops. Shared revenue to every municipality has been falling for YEARS.The budget can’t support more cuts.

I love how state legislators/Bob Donovan types call for changes (more cops, tougher sentences) while at the same time refusing to increase funding to support such policies. If they spent 5 minutes looking at the city budget, they’d realize that it’s a miracle that the city isn’t in worse shape.

If you actually care about crime prevention and want more cops, give the city the money to hire more cops. It’s that simple. The city is already making due with less!